Laboratory research indicates that short-term exposure to environmental stress can be detrimental to task performance, decrease altruistic behavior, and result in motivational and cognitive deficits linked with the deterioration of health. These effects are often attributed to stress induced shifts in attentional strategies and locus of personal control. The difficulty with most of this research is that it emphasizes acute rather than long-term effects. Due to a lack of well-controlled studies of those routinely living and working under stress, we are unable to say with any certainty what happens when individuals are exposed to environmental stress for prolonged periods. Are the effects of short- and long-term exposure similar? Do we adapt with prolonged exposure? Are there immediate and/or lasting after effects of chronic stress exposure? This proposal suggests some implications of the existing literature on short-term exposure to environmental stress for predicting the impact of prolonged exposure. Two well-controlled longitudinal studies of the effects of classroom and home noise levels on behavior and health are proposed to test the validity of these suggestions. The emphasis of the studies is to determine both the immediate and long-term impact of prolonged exposure on children's attentional strategies and generalized expectancies concerning control. Verbal skills and health will be assessed in light of their theoretical relationship to the above mentioned mechanisms. Alternative explanations for the assumed detrimental effects of noise on children will also be examined.